(The Center Square) – Immigration arrests in Washington surged this summer, with federal immigration officers detaining about 705 people in June and another 700 in July statewide, according to records from the Deportation Data Project.
The two months marked the highest monthly totals in Washington in the available records.
Federal immigration enforcement remained active in Washington over the weekend. U.S. Border Patrol’s Blaine Sector said agents directly arrested two people and assisted partner agencies in apprehending 23 others from seven countries. The two people directly arrested by Border Patrol were Mexican nationals with prior criminal records, according to the agency.
The increased enforcement is drawing different reactions in Central Washington, where District 4 Democratic congressional candidate John Duresky and Republican candidate Amanda McKinney have offered opposing views of the federal crackdown.
The two are running for an open seat after incumbent Dan Newhouse decided not to seek reelection.
Duresky, speaking in an interview with The Center Square on Monday, called the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement approach “immoral and un-American.”
Duresky said he recently met with the nonprofit Yakima Immigrant Response Network and was briefed on ICE activity in the Yakima area.
“In the big cities, there is enough infrastructure to locate, identify and create human walls. However, in smaller towns and communities, they pop in and pop out and it makes it harder,” Duresky said.
Duresky said he has heard reports of ICE agents walking through parking lots and taking pictures while looking for undocumented immigrants. He said the increased enforcement has had a chilling effect, with some people staying home, avoiding the economy and not showing up for work.
“H-2A people are worried,” Duresky said, referring to the federal agricultural guest-worker program.
Duresky said immigrants have played a major role in Central Washington’s agricultural economy and argued that people who have lived in the country for years without criminal convictions should have an affordable path to legal status.
“Immigrants built this nation, we fed the nation with apples and it’s the result of those immigrants,” he said.
He also questioned the broader purpose of the current enforcement strategy and said ICE’s mission should be changed.
“I have never understood the benefit other than political demagoguery, the deportation regime makes no sense,” Duresky said. “Never meant to be a rogue force.”
McKinney, in a statement provided to The Center Square, defended ICE officers and argued immigration laws can be enforced while Congress addresses agricultural workforce needs.
“John Duresky has accused ICE of operating ‘outside the law’ and called for major structural reform of the agency. His first instinct is to attack the officers enforcing our immigration laws. Mine is to stand with law enforcement, protect American citizens, and restore the rule of law after years of open-border policies,” McKinney said.
McKinney said Central Washington agriculture needs a dependable workforce but argued H-2A reforms can address that need without reducing immigration enforcement.
“We can secure our border, enforce the law, and reform H-2A so farmers have access to a reliable legal workforce,” she said.
McKinney also said allegations of misconduct involving ICE officers should be investigated.
“Any credible allegation of misconduct should be investigated, but smearing ICE agents for doing the difficult job Congress authorized them to do is reckless,” McKinney said.
Washington’s Keep Washington Working Act limits how state and local law enforcement agencies can participate in federal civil immigration enforcement.
The state Attorney General’s Office says local agencies are not required to assist federal immigration enforcement and cannot detain someone solely because of immigration status or a civil immigration warrant. The law does not prevent local agencies from enforcing state and local laws.
The latest Washington arrest data shows Yakima had 522 immigration arrests from January through July, the most of any Washington city in the records. Seattle had 477, followed by Tukwila with 362 and Spokane with 342.